McVeigh told the local paper: "I don't know how it happened but I know what happened."

The priest insisted he had no knowledge of the inappropriate images and said he expected the events could be "legitimately explained" by the investigation.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Brady released a statement on Monday confirming the imagery was "inadvertently shown by a priest at the beginning of a Powerpoint presentation, causing concern to those present".

"This was immediately removed from the screen.

"The priest has stated that he had no knowledge of the offending imagery. He is co-operating with an investigation of the matter on the part of the archdiocese."